Why we shouldn't idolize Desdemona

Over the past couple days, there's been something that I haven't been able to get out of my head, so I feel writing about it may be the only way to finally get it to stop bothering me.

I just finished reading Othello for English class, and a large portion of our discussion of the book has been devoted to Desdemona as a Christ-like figure (you can tell I go to a Catholic school). Undoubtedly, Desdemona is a great person: her fidelity to her husband, Othello, and her unwavering kindness are traits not found in everyone. Readers can certainly look up to her in those regards.

But something else bothered me. The class began discussing a particular scene in which Desdemona talks to Emilia about the concept of women cheating on their husbands as the men around them seem to do with there wives. When Emilia suggests that women should be allowed to reciprocate the actions of their husbands, Desdemona disagrees, instead saying "God me such uses send, not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend." When observed on its own, I don't see much of an issue with the quote; however, my class ended up discussing the quote in the context not only of Othello's infidelity, but his violence towards Desdemona towards the end of the play. Eventually, the consensus was reached that we should idolize Desdemona for her ultimate desire to work on bettering herself instead of gaining revenge on her husband despite what he has done.

I do not agree with this. Sure, Desdemona's actions show her incredible goodness of heart, but they also depict her as a door-mat for Othello to trample all over. When observing the world around us, it seems outrageous to encourage people to model her behavior. We're basically telling victims of domestic violence to suck it up and work on making themselves better people rather than telling them to stand up for themselves. This thought didn't seem to occur to anyone in the room when we were discussing it in class, but upon further reflection that doesn't seem too surprising considering the entire English department is run by men. I by no means think that they're misogynistic in any sense, but I think the fact that the department remains women-less closes up the possibility of the discussion of different viewpoints and aspects of literature, especially women's issues in famous works.

I normally wouldn't want to write something like this, but I really felt that I had to get it out of my system. A post about Comic Con will be coming soon

Living

I've never considered myself much of a poetry fan, but every once in a while I'll come across something that speaks to me. Most recently, "Living" by Denise Levertov was one of those exceptions:

The fire in leaf and grass
so green it seems
each summer the last summer.

The wind blowing, the leaves
shivering in the sun,
each day the last day.

A red salamander
so cold and so
easy to catch, dreamily

moves his delicate feet
and long tail. I hold
my hand open for him to go.

Each minute the last minute.


Part of my reasoning behind starting this blog was to open myself up to new opportunities and experience the world in ways I hadn't before. The poem resonates with me because of its emphasis on living in the present, valuing experiences as they come to you but letting them go so you can embrace something else in the future. The poem's short, quick to read, and yet powerful enough to really capture one's attention.

The Feast of San Gennaro

Two weeks ago I attended the Feast of San Gennaro with a good friend Hayley. I had hoped to publish this post earlier in the week, but my dad spilled coffee all over my computer and successfully broke it, leaving me without a computer for the remainder of the week. I finally got a new one today, so I'm trying to finish this guy up.

Hayley and I met downtown in that awkward area where Little Italy and Chinatown really seem to blend together, as in you see a fish market right next to a pastry shop stocked with cannolis, and proceeded to make our way up the street fair.

Let me say that this festival was HUGE. I accidentally stumbled upon it last year when I went downtown and it didn't seem to be that crowded, yet I realized that of course it would less packed on a Tuesday afternoon than it would be on a Saturday evening. However, despite my intimidation by big crowds, I managed to push my way through. I wanted to take nice pictures of the festival on my camera, but it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to crowded for me to be able to pull my camera out my bag + it was raining and I didn't want to risk breaking my camera. I was forced to settle for pictures on my phone, which turned out less terribly than I thought they would.

It was hard for me to capture any good photos simply because of the swarm of people that kept pushing me out of their way when they walked by.

who couldn't love a giant cannoli??

It started raining right when Hayley and I reached the end of the festival chain, so we decided to go into this cute little place called Macbar which is amazing because it ONLY SERVES MAC AND CHEESE!!!!!!!! Obviously I was very excited. I would recommend going there when not very full, because if you get a medium or large, you get a cool macaroni-shaped reusable container to carry your food around in.

Another unique experience of the evening was that I got to try a "cronoli". There was a lot of hype this passed summer about a new food item called the cronut, a mixture of a donut and croissant, sold only at this one bakery. Many bakeries have tried creating their own spin on the cronut, and the cronoli was Little Italy's interpretation, a cronut filled with cannoli cream. Hayley bought one and I had a bite, and I must say it was delicious. I don't think it needed the cream in the center, however, but I can definitely see why people wait outside of Dominique Ansel Bakery starting at 5 just to get their hands on two cronuts.

Hayley and I were a bit rushed on our way back from the festival as the light drizzle turned into a massive downpour. We ran to the nearest subway station and headed home. I would've liked to stay longer, but you just have to take what life throws your way sometimes.